Mindef clarifies its policy of disruption and deferment for NSFs. #SGpresident

WE REFER to Ms Lim Guay Cheng's letter on Tuesday ('Mindef should spell out NS deferment criteria'). The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) grants disruption for full-time national servicemen (NSFs) to obtain their medical degrees, as the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has operational needs for doctors. This is a long-standing policy and uniformly applied for all servicemen who meet the criteria. They are disrupted just before their university term begins and serve out their remaining national service (NS) liabilities soon after completion of their medical courses. Currently, about 120 NSFs are disrupted every year to study medicine locally. Prior to 1992, disruptions were also allowed for NSFs to obtain medical degrees in approved overseas universities. Our records show that 86 such disruptions have been granted. The length of disruption varied depending on the time taken to comp...